Future Knight

Chapter 142

『Damn it, have all our fighters already been destroyed?』

The enemy had 40 unmanned combat aircraft and nine Zaid, each with the power of a small warship.

On top of that, there were powerful beams coming from the Zvezda ship.

However, they couldn’t rely on the support of the Red Mars ship in this situation.

The phrase ‘between a rock and a hard place’ was apt for this moment.

Left alone in space filled with enemies, Kang Chan calmly took a deep breath and called out to Zikyon.

“Hey! Zikyon! Are you okay?”

“What?”

“You’ve done a lot of spatial movements! Aren’t you exhausted?”

If Silpiris had done that much spatial movement, she would have fainted by now, so Kang Chan was secretly worried about her.

However, what he got in return was a flick on the forehead from Zikyon.

Smack!

“Why did you hit me?”

“What, punk? You know who I am and still say something like that? I am G. Zikyon, the former Lord of the Dragon Clan! This is a piece of cake for me.”

But Kang Chan couldn’t respond.

Even though she said that, the sweat-drenched clothes on Zikyon’s back suggested that she, too, was struggling a bit in her human form.

“Showing off…”

Kang Chan gritted his teeth as he assessed the positions of the enemy Zaids closing in on them.

‘I have to take them down as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we have no chance of winning!’

Red Rabbit boosted its flight power to maximum and charged recklessly at the enemies.

If Zikyon’s spatial movement speed dropped even a little, Red Rabbit would surely be riddled with holes.

“Let’s go!”

“Alright!”

With the speed of a beam of light, Kang Chan charged into the enemy encirclement.

Kang Chan, who didn’t rely solely on Zikyon, maneuvered to evade enemy attacks with the skill that once earned him the title of the strongest pilot in the Allied Forces.

Then, he suddenly attempted to teleport above a Zaid’s head.

“Got one!”

The enemy screamed its final cry as Kang Chan suddenly appeared above its head.

『No, don’t! Gahhhhhh!』

As Kang Chan’s giant Aura Blade slashed through the enemy Zaid, a massive explosion ensued.

Amidst the explosion, dozens of powerful beams converged on Red Rabbit.

The remaining Zvezda crew members concentrated their firepower with their eyes blazing.

They were using the destructive Buster Cannons that had even forced the Fire Spirit King Phoenix back to the spirit realm.

“Ugh! Maximum power to the shield!”

-Maximum power to the shield.

“Shield!”

Sensing the danger, Zikyon cast multiple layers of shield magic.

Although Kang Chan’s evasive maneuvers avoided a direct hit, the power was terrifying.

Red Rabbit was thrown back hundreds of meters by the beams’ force.

“Gahhhh!”

“Kyahhh!”

The impact Kang Chan and Zikyon felt was strong enough to knock out an ordinary person.

Destructive beams trailed behind them as Kang Chan and Zikyon were pushed back hundreds of meters in space.

“Zikyon!”

“Got it!”

Red Rabbit avoided the enemy’s attack again through spatial movement.

However, Red Rabbit’s condition was not good.

Dozens of Buster Cannon shots had destroyed the Zaid’s shield generator and wrecked the flight system.

Now, without the flight system, the only way to avoid the enemy’s attacks was through spatial movement.

The slow Levitation Magic couldn’t dodge the attacks of highly mobile enemies.

Kang Chan, who detached the destroyed flight system, gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Alright, let’s see who wins! Releasing final combat mode!”

-Releasing final safety lock.

-Applying combat mode level 6.

Zikyon tilted her head at Kang Chan’s strange outburst.

‘Final combat mode? What’s that?’

Immediately after, Zikyon couldn’t close her mouth at the amazing change happening to Kang Chan’s body.

She could clearly see the insanely rotating mana inside Kang Chan’s body.

The amount of mana, which increased with each rotation, had already surpassed the level of a Wyrm-class Dragon.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“Ugh! Zikyon, sorry, but you’ll have to buy me some time…”

“Hey! Don’t tell me you’ve nearly died doing this before?”

“Please, it’s the only way.”

“You idiot!”

But there was no time to blame Kang Chan.

Enemy attacks were raining down from all directions.

“If you die, I’ll never forgive you!”

Zikyon, leaving the rampaging Kang Chan behind, teleported Red Rabbit as far as she could.

However, as the enormous Zvezda ship approached and unleashed its terrifying attacks, she felt, for the first time in her life, that she was facing death.

It was because of the Earthlings who possessed mobility and firepower beyond her spatial movement abilities.

Despite teleporting dozens of times amidst the rain of destructive light and rail gun fire, it was impossible to escape the mobility and range of the Zvezda ship.

Zikyon’s strength was gradually waning.

She, too, seemed to be at her limit.

“Kang Chan! Hurry up! I can’t hold on any longer!”

“……”

Despite Zikyon’s desperate cries, Kang Chan silently closed his eyes and focused on one thing.

It was something he had never attempted in the final combat mode, level 6.

Surpassing the rampage of mana.

In level 5, he had artificially accelerated the rotation of mana to gather the surrounding mana, but in level 6, he had never dared to try.

However, Kang Chan was now challenging that state.

He doubted whether his body could withstand such immense power, but now was not the time to hesitate.

‘Ugh! Just a bit more! A bit more!’

His body felt like it would burst like a balloon at any moment.

But Kang Chan, with the resolve to risk death, endured everything and continued to rotate his mana.

He almost lost his grip on consciousness several times due to the unbearable pain, but he had to endure.

He had to endure no matter what.

To protect everyone he loved.

“Aaaaargh!”

The rampaging mana, having rampaged again and again, began to draw in the surrounding mana frantically, an amount that surpassed Kang Chan and Zikyon’s comprehension.

The source of mana, the sun.

A force as powerful as the sun began to gather in Kang Chan.

However, the sun in space was far more violent than the one seen from the ground, causing Kang Chan to feel pain as if his mana lines were being torn apart.

“Ugh! Gah!”

The pain was incomparable to when his mana had rampaged before.

“Aaaargh! Aaaaaargh!”

Watching Kang Chan writhe in pain, Zikyon unknowingly welled up with tears. But she had no time to tend to Kang Chan.

Hundreds of beams of light were continuously flying at them.

If even one hit, it would be the end of everything, shield or not.

However, Zikyon’s teleportation speed began to noticeably decrease.

Even an ancient-grade dragon like her had reached her mental and mana limits.

The dragons and Arteon, watching the battle from the Red Mars ship, anxiously observed their lonely struggle.

But no matter how much they watched, the situation seemed hopeless.

As the Zvezda ship joined the hunt for the Red Rabbit, not even the shield protected by 14 dragons’ magic shields could hold.

A situation of one against many.

The Red Rabbit being chased by the Zvezda ship looked like a battle between a person and an ant.

Luckily, the ant could teleport, so it was still safe for now.

An amazing ant indeed.

But even this ant seemed to be getting exhausted as the teleportation speed and distance noticeably decreased, and soon, the ant’s life was threatened by the person’s feet.

The ant was sure to be crushed and die soon.

Watching their comrades in such a pitiful state, the allies wept as they faced their impending death.

There was no hope.

The battle was their defeat.

Everything they had painstakingly prepared was turning into nothing.

“Just run away, Lady Zikyon!”

“Withdraw and wait for another chance!”

Everyone shouted for Zikyon to flee.

If she escaped to the ground and hid, she could at least save her life.

But Zikyon did not respond.

Not only because she had no energy to respond but because she couldn’t leave Kang Chan, who was risking his life, behind.

And there was no next chance.

The fact that they had fought this far was only possible because of Kang Chan and the Red Mars ship.

Without them, there was no way to drive out the mighty forces of Earth.

The nerve-wracking chase continued, and now, with Zikyon having used up all her remaining strength, the attacks from the warship surged in front of her eyes.

Further spatial movement was impossible.

“Is this the end? I’m sorry, Kang Chan…”

Staring at the blinding light covering her vision, Zikyon calmly accepted her death and placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder for the last time.

She thought it wasn’t too bad to fight to the end and die with Kang Chan, who she considered a true friend for the first time in her thousands of years of life.

“Meeting you was a blessing. Thank you, my friend.”

Just as Zikyon closed her eyes, thinking it was the end, the destructive light splitting the horizon was halved.

“Gasp! Wh-what?”

When Zikyon opened her eyes wide in surprise, she saw beams as powerful as a Wyrm-class dragon’s breath disappearing one by one.

Kang Chan slowly opened his eyes.

Holding Zikyon’s hand on his shoulder, he said,

“Save the final farewell for later…”

“What did you say? Gasp!”

Zikyon was shocked as she felt an immense amount of mana flowing into her through her hand.

Her empty dragon heart began to fill rapidly.

A dragon heart that could store more mana than anything on earth.

“How, how is this possible?”

As Zikyon, who had recovered all her mana in an instant, struggled to grasp the situation, Kang Chan spoke.

“There’s no time to stand around. Let’s go!”

Kang Chan’s words snapped Zikyon back to reality.

“What? Ah, got it!”

As Red Rabbit charged toward the enemies, a massive blazing sword, nearly 100 meters long, emerged from its outstretched hands.

It wasn’t something that could be merely called an Aura Blade.

“A-an Aura Fire?”

Arteon, watching everything from the bridge of the Red Mars ship, unconsciously uttered the term ‘Aura Fire.’

There was no other way to describe it.

As Aura Fire erupted from Kang Chan’s hands, everything before him was destroyed in an instant. Not even the attacks from enemies outside the range could penetrate.

The Zvezda ship’s main cannon, said to rival a dragon’s breath, vanished powerlessly before Kang Chan’s Aura Fire.

『Attack! Concentrate all firepower!』

Benziller screamed orders at the crew from the bridge of the Zvezda ship, but he started to panic as he watched the dwindling number of unmanned combat aircraft.

“Reverse Gravity! Hell Lightning Burst!”

Not to be outdone, Zikyon simultaneously cast two 9th circle spells.

This was something only Zikyon among the dragons could do.

When red lightning burst from Red Rabbit’s body, which had restrained the enemy, the surrounding unmanned combat aircraft were engulfed in hellish lightning and exploded.

Even the once sturdy unmanned combat aircraft couldn’t withstand it.

Zikyon had realized after several battles that these aircraft were weak against lightning-based spells.

After quickly clearing the unmanned combat aircraft, Red Rabbit’s next target was the enemy Zaids.

『Stay back! Stay back! Aaaargh!』

The Zvezda crew member screamed in terror and fled as Red Rabbit, using spatial movement, approached.

However, Red Rabbit swiftly caught up and sliced the enemy in half with its giant Aura Fire, causing an explosion. As it moved to another location, Red Rabbit continued to destroy the remaining Zaids one by one.

『Don’t scatter! Engage in close combat!』

With the enemy hunting them one by one using spatial movement, there was only one way for them to counter.

They had to stick together and protect each other.

But that was a misjudgment.

Gathered together, they were merely easier prey for Kang Chan.

The grouped Zaids were cut into two or three pieces by Kang Chan’s Aura Fire in an instant.

『Argh! Captain!』

Hong Hak-mae and Lebedev stared in disbelief at their impending deaths before being engulfed in a massive explosion, becoming cosmic dust.

Now, only the Zvezda ship remained.

“If we can just… get rid of that… Ugh! Phew!”

Blood spouted from Kang Chan’s mouth like a fountain, covering the screen displaying the Zvezda ship in front of him.